


Broken Promises

by stargatefan_archivist



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Missing Scene, s
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-10-09
Updated: 2005-10-09
Packaged: 2018-10-07 04:09:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10351962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stargatefan_archivist/pseuds/stargatefan_archivist
Summary: SPOILERS: Children of the Gods, Cold Lazarus, The Serpent’s Lair, The Gamekeeper, Secrets, Legacy, Forever in a Day, Shades of Grey, Maternal Instinct, Crystal SkullSUMMARY: Epilogue for Crystal Skull: Daniel is having a hard time dealing with Nick’s departure, and he and Jack are both feeling guilty over past failures and losses.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Yuma, the archivist: this work was originally archived at [Stargatefan.com](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Stargatefan.com). To preserve the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [StargateFan Archive Collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/StargateFan_Archive_Collection).

Stargate SG-1 | Missing Scene Fanfiction | Broken Promises

Daniel turned away as the light flashed blindingly for a moment and vanished into nothing, taking his grandfather along with it. It was hard to believe that Nick was gone, gone as soon as he had come back into Daniel’s life. Daniel sighed and turned toward his teammates where they stood in front of the skull, waiting for him, his brow furrowed with pain. Looking up, he saw Jack’s gaze on him and dropped his own to the stone floor, hoping that the tears weren’t too visible in his eyes.

"You okay?" Jack asked him, and realised as he said it that he always seemed to be asking that lately, always seemed to be worrying about Daniel and the look he would sometimes see for an instant in Daniel’s blue eyes.

"Yeah, I’m fine."

Jack stared at him for a long moment and seemed about to say something, but closed his mouth at the last second and shook his head a little. Maybe later. Now was not the time.

Daniel walked slowly over to stand beside Jack and Sam, his eyes averted and his face closed against them. Sam reached out softly and touched his arm in silent sympathy, and Daniel turned to her with a smile, but his eyes were distant. And as they stared into the eyes of the crystal skull where it stood on its pedestal, there was a great burst of light like a silent explosion and they were left standing there in puzzlement.

Jack looked around inquiringly, shaking out his hat and settling it on his head. "D’you think it worked? I don’t feel any different." Jack studied the hand he held out before him and flexed his fingers experimentally.

"There’s only one way to find out, sir," Sam pointed out, gesturing with her head towards the DHD.

"Right." Jack straightened up and glanced at Daniel quickly before leading the way back to the Stargate. He could feel Daniel’s presence at his back, and knew he was there as surely as if he could see him. Daniel’s footsteps were thoughtful, lagging, and Jack began to worry that the kid was so lost in thought that he was going to fall off into the bottom of the pyramid. Straining his ears, he listened for any sign of stumbling, and prepared his muscles to react at the slightest sound of Daniel losing his balance. Daniel wasn’t going to fall, not after all this, not if Jack had anything to say about it.

But how many times had he promised that he would be there for Daniel when he needed him, that he would protect him from all harm, and how many times had he lost Daniel, left him behind, saw him walk into dangers that only some providence prevented from ending in Daniel’s death? Jack’s mouth tightened, and his heart constricted in his chest. The fact that Daniel was still alive now was not due to him. A thousand thousand times he could have lost Daniel forever, a thousand times it had been far too close, and there had been nothing he could do.

_So many tears, Daniel, so many broken promises..._

Jack was startled out of his thoughts by the sound of pebbles slipping, falling from the stone bridge to be lost forever in the abyss. He turned, his heart in his mouth, but Daniel was still standing there, walking like a man in a dream with his head bowed and his arms crossed protectively over his chest. Suddenly, Daniel looked up and met Jack’s eyes, and for a moment, Jack saw all the pain looking out of those innocent blue eyes, the wild, hopeless pain of an abandoned child mingled with the old, aching agony of a man who had seen his life ruined, piece by piece taken away until there was almost nothing left. Jack stared at him for a moment, and something seemed to pierce his heart at the naked torment in his best friend’s boyish eyes. There was nothing he could say, not now, but he raised a hand and let it rest for a moment on Daniel’s shoulder before he turned back to the Gate.

"Okay, Carter, dial us up."

"Yes, sir."

Jack stood beside Daniel and watched as Sam pressed the familiar symbols to get them back home. Daniel didn’t move, didn’t turn his head, didn’t even shift his eyes from whatever distant point they were fixed on. Jack turned once to glance at him, but Daniel didn’t even notice, and Jack sighed inwardly. Daniel never got a break, and it had been a hard year. It had been one thing after the other: first Sha’re, then Jack’s betrayal, the loss of Sha’re’s son, and now this.

_God, Daniel, if I knew whoever has this grudge against you, I’d find him and cheerfully shoot him down for you. You don’t deserve this, Daniel._

The blue wave of energy rushed out from the Stargate and settled back into the wavering pattern they all knew so well. Jack shook himself out of his thoughts and clapped a hand on Daniel’s shoulder, feeling the muscles tense beneath his hand, and rubbed reassuringly until they relaxed again.

"Come on, Daniel, we’re going home."

~*~

SG-1 stepped out onto the ramp to see Teal’c and General Hammond waiting for them in the Gateroom. General Hammond smiled as he took in the three of them, noting that they were all alive and apparently unharmed. His eyes stopped and lingered for a moment on Daniel, softening paternally at the sight of the young man.

"It’s good to see you alive and well, Doctor Jackson," the General beamed.

The young man raised his head and looked around for a moment, his eyes vague. Then his gaze settled on General Hammond and a conscious light seemed to return to his eyes.

"Uh, thank you, sir."

He smiled at the General for an instant, with more pain than happiness in his face, and then he was gone. General Hammond turned to stare after him in sudden anxiety as the Gateroom door closed behind the figure of the archaeologist. His mouth opened as he turned towards his second in command.

"Is he all right, Colonel?"

Jack turned his head to look after Daniel for a moment as if he expected to still see him, but there was nothing there. He sighed and turned back to the General, and General Hammond could see the bottomless anguish in the Colonel’s dark eyes.

"I think so, sir."

"Well, make sure he gets to the infirmary. I want Doctor Fraiser’s word on that before I return him to active duty. And, Colonel," General Hammond added as he took Jack aside and watched Sam and Teal’c leave the Gateroom, "This isn’t an order, but... I’d like you to talk to him. I admit that I’ve been worried about him for a while now."

Jack’s mouth tightened for a brief instant. "Yes, sir, I have, too. I’ll talk to him."

"Thanks, Jack."

The corner of Jack’s lips quirked upward in a mirthless half-smile, and he walked past the General with a brief inclination of his head in acknowledgement. Now all he had to do was find Daniel, and hope that he had something to say that would help. If not... if not, he didn’t know what he would do. At least he could be there for Daniel, as he had always promised he would be. And with the thought came the memory of so many near losses, so many times he had failed Daniel and almost paid the ultimate price for that failure.

_So many broken promises. God, Daniel, I’m so sorry, so sorry._

~*~

Gone. All gone.

Daniel’s head was full of them, the faces of those he had lost, the promises he had broken. He had promised himself so many times to protect Sha’re, but instead he had been the cause of her death. He had led the enemy straight to her, and even death for her sake had been denied him.

He remembered the way she had looked into his eyes as she begged him to promise to save her child, the love of a mother making her face so tender, so beautifully sad. And he had promised, for her sake, and for the sake of the child that should have been theirs, for the sake of the life they should have had. How could he refuse her anything when her eyes looked into his and pleaded with tears bright in their depths? He had promised... and he had failed in that, too.

Promises, promises, lying broken, strewn on the ground in pieces about his feet. His whole life was one long road of broken promises, promises he never should have made because he could not keep them. He should have known that.

And now Nick was gone, too, just like the others in his life. His parents had said they would always be there, that they would never leave him alone, but he had stood there and watched them die. He had been alone for so long after that. Nick... Nick had not adopted him, though he begged with tears in his eyes and hopelessness in his heart. Nick had turned away and left him abandoned in a nightmare of loneliness and uncertainty.

But that was over now. Daniel had found him again, and for a brief time, a very brief time, they had been closer than they ever were before. He had wanted to be there for Nick, to give him the love he had craved as a child, to care for him and watch over him, but Nick was gone, and it was too late now.

Nick was gone. They were all gone, all gone. Daniel looked back and saw them, all the broken promises, all the failures of his life and the loneliness that was left. He had failed, failed.

_Broken promises. So many broken promises..._

~*~

Jack found Daniel alone in his office, with his head down on his arms as they rested on the desk. For once, there were no papers with weird writing on them lying around him, no artifacts he had been studying. Daniel’s desk was empty, the piles of paper and books laid carelessly beside strange objects on the floor. That wasn’t like Daniel.

Jack hesitated in the doorway for a moment, then cleared his throat nervously. Daniel didn’t raise his head from his arms.

"Jack," he said, and his voice was muffled so that Jack had no way of reading it.

Jack tilted his head and forced a brief smile onto his face and a careless bravado into his voice.

"What gave me away?"

There was only silence from the bowed head on the desk.

"Uh, Daniel..."

The reply was almost immediate, reflexive and so weary that it tugged at Jack’s heart.

"I’m fine."

Jack paused for a moment, taken aback, and scratched his head.

"Uh... Hammond says you need to get checked out by Fraiser."

"Right." Daniel’s voice was hardly more than a sigh.

Jack took a deep breath and looked at Daniel with an echo of Daniel’s pain in his eyes.

"Look, Daniel..."

At last Daniel raised his head and looked at Jack. His face was weary and spent, and his dry, tearless eyes were terribly sad and hopeless. They stared at each other for a moment, and then Daniel sighed and let his head drop onto his arms again.

"Jack," he said wearily, "I don’t want to talk now. I just can’t. Maybe later, but... not now."

The Air Force Colonel shuffled his feet on the floor and nodded slowly.

"Okay, Daniel, whatever you want."

He turned to go, but stopped at the sound of Daniel’s voice, calling him from the dimness around his desk.

"Jack... I just want you to know that I appreciate it. I just... it’s not your fault."

Jack looked at him for a moment, and his eyes softened.

"I know," he said softly, "I know."

Slowly, he walked out of the room and down the corridor, but no matter where he went, he could still see the blank loneliness in Daniel’s eyes, and somehow he couldn’t believe that it wasn’t his fault. There must be something he could have done.

_So many broken promises, Daniel. So many broken promises. I’ve failed you again._

~*~

Alone. Always alone.

The corridor was full of faces that Daniel glimpsed for a moment as they passed him, faces that came and went and didn’t care whether he lived or died. He always felt more alone in a crowd than he did in his office or his apartment. These faces passed him and didn’t care. Nothing he did could matter to them, and so they walked on. A new sharp pang of loneliness shot through him at the thought, at the knowledge that he didn’t matter to anyone in the world, and that he didn’t deserve to. If he could not keep his promises to those who loved him, if he could lose them as he did, then he deserved only to remain alone, all alone.

Alone, alone.

Tears welled up in Daniel’s eyes as he imagined a life like that, a life without anyone to love, without anyone to care for him, to be there when he needed them. It was terrible, but maybe it was better that way. Everyone he loved came to ruin because of him. It was better to be alone.

Suddenly Daniel wanted only to get away, to hide from the world and know that no one was watching him. He wanted to huddle into a ball and sit somewhere where no one would ever find him. He wanted to hide from everyone like a wounded animal, so that he could sit alone and think forever, far from prying and friendly eyes alike. 

And he wanted to see the stars.

~*~

"Well, I can’t find anything wrong with you," Janet announced brightly, writing something on Daniel’s chart and looking up. "There are no after effects of whatever that skull did to you, so I’d like you to know that I’m clearing you for active duty."

Daniel, sitting with bowed head on one of the beds, looked up briefly and tried to smile. Janet got one flashing glimpse of the look in his tired blue eyes before he dropped his head again.

"Thank you," he said quietly. Daniel stood up to leave, but she was at his side in a moment, her small hand resting protectively on Daniel’s arm.

Janet looked up for a long moment into Daniel’s face, seeing the dark shadows beneath his eyes, the weariness of his face, and something close to despair in his eyes that shouldn’t be there. Eyes like that, eyes so clear, so trusting, and so innocent should never have to be windows to a darkness like that. This was all wrong. Why should Daniel always be the one to suffer like this? He had never done anything to deserve it.

"Daniel," she said quietly, and swallowed once to banish the sudden lump in her throat. "Daniel, I’m recommending that you go home and get some rest – not as your doctor, but as your friend." Her clear brown eyes looked up into his, her sensitive face full of sympathy. "And I just want you to know... that we’re here for you. If you ever need anything, we’re here for you. And we always will be."

The tears started into Daniel’s eyes at her words, at the motherly tenderness in her face. He swallowed hard and drew a deep, shuddering breath before he could answer her, and when he spoke, there were tears in his voice.

"Thank you."

Janet looked into his face and smiled once, her own eyes suspiciously bright.

"Just remember that, Daniel," she said, and squeezed his hand gently in hers for a moment. At the gentle, friendly pressure, Daniel could feel the tears rising in his throat.

Janet stood still and watched him as he left the infirmary, a single sad figure, with all the troubles of the world on his shoulders. She dropped the hand that had held Daniel’s swiftly to her side and closed it. With a deep sigh and one last concerned look out of her brown eyes, Janet turned from the door.

~*~

_Broken promises, so many broken promises._

Jack sat alone in the darkened comissary with his head in his hands, remembering things he wanted only to forget. And yet they rose up before him, one by one, and every picture, every moment was like another knife thrust through his heart.

He saw Daniel terribly wounded on Apophis’ ship, saw the look in his blue eyes when Daniel told him to go. He could still hear the tone of that voice, unnaturally high with the agony of his burns, and though he put his hands tightly over his ears, he could still hear Daniel’s strained voice, begging Jack to leave him alone to die.

__

__

God, Daniel.

He saw Daniel dragged off to an asylum, he saw him in a little white room, crying without being able to keep the tears back. He saw Daniel laughing, pointing at something that wasn’t there, and knew again what it had felt like to know that he was losing Daniel, and that nothing he could do would ever bring him back. He hadn’t been there with him then, when Daniel needed him more than anything else.

__

__

That’s another time I failed you, Daniel, another time I left you behind. And I always promised that I would be there for you.

He saw Daniel’s face when he told him to his face that their friendship had no foundation. He saw again the look in his eyes, a look he had seen in men before they died, when they just stood there for a moment and looked with stricken eyes at their wounds before they fell. And the horror rose in him again at the memory.

How could he have done that to Daniel? The look in his eyes had haunted Jack for days, weeks afterwards, making him toss and turn all night as he cursed and tried to get the image out of his head. He had said the words and forced himself to look on the damage afterwards, and it was beyond anything he had imagined. How could he have done that? How could he ever have done that?

He had felt Daniel’s eyes boring into the back of his head when he went through the Gate, forever, as Daniel thought. He could feel Daniel watching him, yearning for one sign, one look before he left, and yet Jack could not give Daniel that one thing he needed so badly. If he had turned then, he would not have been able to withstand the look of Daniel’s wounded, haunted face, and it all would have been for nothing. And as he walked through the Stargate, he had felt something in his heart die.

_Broken promises. So many broken promises._

Now Daniel was alone somewhere, suffering in silence and loneliness because he would never go to anyone for help, because he never seemed to understand that he wasn’t alone. And Jack was failing him again because he wasn’t there for him, because he was letting him suffer alone when Daniel needed him more than ever.

Jack stood up abruptly from the table, his face grim, and walked out of the comissary with a determined stride. So what if Daniel didn’t want to talk? He needed someone to be there, and Jack was going to be there, whether Daniel liked it or not. Even if Daniel didn’t know it, he needed Jack right now, and Jack was not going to fail him again.

~*~

The stars were very bright. Daniel sat down with a sigh, feeling the night like a living being all around him, dark and gentle, and he was able to find some peace at last, hidden in the great darkness with no one to look at him. And something in him relaxed at the utter quiet, the wild beauty of a mountain night, when the stars were so bright and close that he could almost touch them.

Sha’re had loved the stars, and he always felt closer to her beneath them and their pulsing, heart-breaking beauty. Somewhere out there, far away, was Abydos, the place of Sha’re’s grave and the only real home he had ever had, the only place he had ever been truly happy.

Ever since they had taken Sha’re from him, he had looked at the stars and found comfort in the thought that she was out there somewhere. She had seemed so close to him then, as the stars were, beautiful and so near, but just out of reach. He had looked at the stars and told himself that she was out there, that he would find her and they would go back to Abydos where they could be happy again. He had made himself believe that, when he woke in the night from dreams of her and wept because she was not there. He had repeated it like a prayer, over and over, strengthening his heart and his hope so that he could go on living, knowing that he was still searching for her. And now she was gone, and it was so hard to know that he would never see her again. His search was over, and he had given her child away. It was hard to convince himself that there was still something worth living for, something left alive and unbroken in the vast desert of broken promises that was his life. It was hard to keep trying.

Daniel looked up again at the stars, remembering Sha’re and how her eyes had shone beneath the stars on Abydos, different stars, in the wide, bright silence of the night. He closed his eyes and he could see her smile, feel her hair brush softly against his face as she laid her head on his shoulder. He could almost see her there, so real and so loving, so beautiful that he gasped at the pain of the vision. He could feel her there, beside him, but when he opened his eyes with a lost hope in his heart, he found himself alone in the night, and he lowered his head and wept for her, as he had not wept since the day she died.

_Broken promises._

Promises he had whispered to his own heart when he held her in his arms and knew how much he loved her. Promises to protect her, to never let anything harm her... promises he had broken. Promises to save her son and rear him as his own, for her sweet sake and for the child’s. And that was another promise he had broken, another way he had failed her.

_Broken promises scattered on the ground at his feet. Broken promises. There was nothing left but broken promises._

~*~

Daniel wept until there were no tears left, until he was so exhausted that it was hard to think anymore... and yet the pain kept burning within him. He sighed once and felt the night all around him, protective, motherly, hiding him in his sorrow. And the wind blew against him as he sat there, and he shivered in the rising cold. But he was too tired to know, and too tired to care anymore.

It didn’t matter what happened now. Nothing mattered.

~*~

Jack stopped short when he saw him, the lonely, hunched figure in the darkness of the night, silhouetted against the stars. He paused for a moment and let out a long breath in the great silence, watching the frosty mist of it disappear into the night. Jack drew his collar up around his throat and hefted the extra coat he had brought for Daniel into a better position. Jack’s eyes were fixed on Daniel, full of sorrow and understanding, with a measureless grief lurking in them that was a part of his life now. 

Jack tensed his muscles for a moment, tapping his foot awkwardly, then took a few more steps to Daniel’s side and sat down on the cold grass.

"Hey."

"Hey," Daniel answered, his face still down on his knees.

Jack tried to smile, forcing cheerfulness into his voice.

"I brought you something."

"I’m not hungry."

Jack’s mouth curved upward in a smile, but only for a moment, then the pain returned to haunt his eyes.

"It’s a coat, Daniel."

"Oh."

"I thought you’d be cold. It’s kind of chilly up here at night."

"Is it?" Daniel asked vaguely.

"Daniel..."

Daniel raised his head at last, his eyes hollow in the darkness. There was a momentary twitch around his mouth that might have been intended for a smile.

"Thanks, Jack. I’ll put it on."

His hands fumbled with the coat, and when Jack touched them, they were as cold as ice. In the end, Jack had to help him get it on, his mind teeming suddenly with memories of Charlie, scenes from the past that he thought he had forgotten. And in the strange, unreal darkness of the night, they were nearer than they had been for a long time.

__

__

Broken promises, scattered at his feet in the dust.

Jack cleared his throat and began hesitantly. "Daniel, you want to talk?"

"I don’t know."

Daniel was staring into the darkness now, his arms tightly around his knees, his voice strangely distant in the silence of the night. Jack was reminded of Charlie once more, and his heart ached to think of losing Daniel, a double loss that would have been too much for him to bear. He couldn’t lose Charlie again, and he couldn’t lose Daniel either.

"They’re all gone, Jack."

Jack was startled suddenly out of his thoughts to hear Daniel’s voice piercing the stillness, low and throbbing with pain. His voice was gentle as he answered, turning his eyes to the still, intent figure beside him.

"What’s gone, Daniel?"

Daniel drew a long, shuddering breath and rubbed a hand across his face.

"Sha’re, my parents, now Nick." Daniel turned to look at Jack suddenly, and the blue intensity of the young man’s eyes hit him like a blow. "Jack, I couldn’t even do what she asked me right before she died. I couldn’t even protect her son!" Daniel’s voice broke for a moment, then he looked up again and continued more quietly. "Jack, I couldn’t keep my promises to them, I couldn’t protect them, I couldn’t save them. In the end, I couldn’t do anything for them and they died because of me. I’ve lost her and it’s all my fault. Now there isn’t anyone left, and I only have myself to blame."

Daniel dropped his head onto his knees again and rocked silently, agonisingly. Jack looked at the stars for a moment and drew a long breath, letting it stream out into the darkness in a white cloud.

"Daniel, I know it hurts, but it wasn’t your fault. Look, I know it feels like it was, but it isn’t. None of it was. Not Sha’re or your parents or Nick. Nick did what he wanted to do. You know that. And you did keep your promise to Sha’re. You said you’d protect the boy, and you did. You gave him up because you knew it was the best thing you could do for him. Don’t you think that would make Sha’re happy, to know that you made sure he would be safe?"

Daniel laughed shortly in the darkness, his face turned again unseeingly to the stars.

"He wouldn’t have been safe with me. It’s just a good thing I realised that in time."

Jack placed a hand on Daniel’s shoulder, leaning forward with intent eyes. His voice was tense, compelling Daniel to listen, to pay attention to him and what he was saying.

"Daniel, what could you have done for her? What could you have done for any of them?"

Daniel turned towards him, startled, his mouth hanging open.

"I... don’t know. I could have been there to protect her. I could at least have been there."

"And done what? Died in front of her? Because that’s what would have happened." Jack’s voice rose, echoing beneath the stars. "What good would that have done her? And how do you think she would have felt about that? She kept fighting because of you, because she knew you were looking for her and that you loved her. In the end, she died to save you. She... God, Daniel, don’t be so hard on yourself. There wasn’t anything you could have done."

Daniel’s face was very young in the darkness, and Jack could see the tears glimmering as they moved down it, one by one.

"I know," he whispered brokenly, "but I... I wanted to always be there for her. I wanted to be there to protect her, and in the end..." Daniel bent his head and finished in a whisper. "In the end, I wasn’t. Jack, how can I ever forgive myself for that?"

Jack’s mouth tightened as he heard his own thoughts in Daniel’s words. "You will. Someday you’ll realise that it wasn’t your fault. Not like me."

Daniel turned to him with a quick movement of his head.

"What?"

Jack let one hand drop onto his knee and scrubbed at his face with the other.

"God, Daniel," he said abruptly, too loudly. "How can you sit there and blame yourself like that? You didn’t give your son a way to kill himself. You haven’t ordered men into battle and watched them die, one by one, and known that you were responsible. You haven’t..."

Daniel’s eyes were fixed intently on Jack’s face, with a quiet earnestness.

"What, Jack?" he asked softly.

Jack dropped his hand from his face and stared at Daniel belligerently, challenging him to deny what he was saying.

"Daniel, do you know how many times I’ve left you behind, lost you, let you step out in front of God knows what and almost died for it? Do you know how many times you would have died, because of me? Do you know what it’s like to know you failed someone that many times the way I failed you?’

"Jack – "

"Daniel," Jack broke in, his face relaxing slowly. "You didn’t do anything. None of what happened is your fault."

"And none of what you just said was yours," Daniel finished smoothly. "Jack, I... I wish I’d known you were worrying about this. I guess I don’t think – "

"You’re worth anything?" Jack broke in. "I know, I know. But you are, and I want you to remember that the next time you decide to go barging into the path of some blood-crazed alien to ask it directions."

In spite of himself, Daniel laughed, and Jack’s face eased at the sound.

"Jack, please, don’t blame yourself for anything that happened to me. None of it killed me, and there’s nothing you could have done anyway. It was completely beyond your control." Daniel stopped, blinking, realising all at once that he was echoing Jack’s words to him from only a little while ago.

__

__

Beyond your control.

Jack linked his hands loosely in front of his knees, thinking. "Yeah, I guess that’s what bothered me."

"What?"

"That it was beyond my control, that there was nothing I could have done. I guess I just can’t accept that."

Jack could see the starlight shining on Daniel’s face as he smiled, a smile Jack rarely saw these days.

"Me, too. I think I wanted to protect them so much that I... that it was too much for me to believe that there was no way I could have saved them." Daniel turned to Jack, and his face was unbearably young and defenseless. "Jack, I miss them so much."

Jack put an arm around Daniel’s shoulder, and felt the tense muscles easing beneath his fingers as he rubbed soothingly.

"I know," he said softly, "I’ve been through that, too. I still go through it."

"I know," Daniel said, his voice like an echo of Jack’s thoughts.

Jack turned to him in surprise. "You do?"

"Yes, I do." Daniel smiled suddenly, and Jack’s heart warmed at the sight. "Come on, Jack, I know you pretty well by now."

Something about that simple statement made Jack happier than he had been in a very long time. "Yeah," he said, nodding. "Yeah, I guess you do."

"Jack..."

"Daniel?"

"I was wrong today, Jack, and I’m glad I was. I... thought I was alone, Jack. I thought no one cared what happened to me. I was wrong," he repeated, tasting the words on his tongue.

Jack’s arm tightened around Daniel’s shoulder.

"Yes, you were, Daniel, you sure were. Just don’t ever think that again, okay? You’ll never be alone again, because I’ll always be there for you. You know that."

And Daniel nodded slowly, the terrible loneliness gone from his face and his eyes fixed on the shining stars.

"I know, Jack, I know."

**The End**

  


* * *

> © October 10, 2004 The characters mentioned in this 
> 
> story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp. The Stargate, SG-I, 
> 
> the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE 
> 
> SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright 
> 
> property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright 
> 
> Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This 
> 
> fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant 
> 
> for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself 
> 
> are the sole property of the author. 

* * *

  



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